Perplexing Submarine News

The following submarine news stories appear perplexing in their revelations. Here is why we think so, but need you to decide.

# 1 - With good behavior, the arsonist (story #1) who laid up a nuclear submarine for at least 2 years and more than $400 Million in damage could be released from prison in as little as about 10-12 years in what closely resembles a sentence more fitting of  a white collar crime:

 PORTLAND, Maine -  Casey James Fury to be sentenced for USS Miami fire, which caused estimated $450 million in damage

"Federal prosecutors are recommending that a young New Hampshire man be sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison for setting fire to a nuclear-powered submarine docked in Maine, causing an estimated $450 million in damage.  In a sentencing memorandum filed Friday in U.S. District Court, the U.S. attorney's office recommended the top of the sentencing range allowed under an agreement in which Casey James Fury pleaded guilty to setting fire to the USS Miami.

The agreement limits Fury's sentence to roughly 15 to 19 years. Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of 19 years and seven months, the maximum allowed under the agreement between Fury's attorney and prosecutors.

Fury, 25, is scheduled to be sentenced Friday in federal court in Portland.

It took more than 100 firefighters to save the Miami after the May 23 fire spread while the sub was in dry dock at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery." source

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# 2 -  What makes the second story perplexing is the old saying, "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me."  For those too young, forgetful or distracted not to recall, here is some background:
Glomar Explorer (1974);  Project AZORIAN: The CIA and the Raising of the K-129, (Naval Institute Press, 2010);  BACK/STORY What Lies Beneath, (2010).  On the contrary, there has also been China Quietly Withholds 17 Exotic Materials (2010):

LONDON, England -  Lockheed to Use Submarine Hunt Data in Sea Mining Plan 

"Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) [headquartered in Bethesda, MD], the world’s biggest defense contractor, is preparing to scour the Pacific Ocean seabed in a search for metals using data obtained in a cold-war hunt for a sunken Soviet submarine.

Lockheed has set up a unit, U.K. Seabed Resources, to explore for so-called polymetallic nodules that can contain copper, nickel, cobalt, manganese and rare earths, it said in London today. The company, supported by the U.K. government, has been granted the first commercial exploration rights for a 58,000 square-kilometer (22,000 square mile) area of the Pacific between Hawaii and Mexico.  ...

Rare earths comprise 17 elements used in magnets, oil refining and smartphone batteries. They became a political and legislative flashpoint in July 2010 when China moved to limit domestic output and slash export quotas by 40 percent, souring ties with the U.S. and Japan.

'The U.K. is leading the way in this exciting new industry,' Prime Minister David Cameron said at the event to announce the new venture. The exploration 'is expected to be worth up to 40 billion pounds to the U.K. economy over the next 30 years,' the equivalent of $60 billion."  source

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Submarines are always silent and strange.